Lewis Calendar Using PHP iCalendar

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PHP iCalendar

PHP iCalendar is a php-based iCal file parser. Its based on v2.0 of the IETF spec. It displays iCal files in a nice logical, clean manner with day, week, month, and year navigation, printer view, RSS-enabled, and searchable. It supports 12 languages, is fully theme-able, and has complete timezone support.

We are using this on the Lewis Elementary site to share our school calendar. Our school secretary is using the calendar tool in Mozilla to keep track of school events. The iCal file that is created is published to the calendar directory on the server and the pages are created by PHP iCalendar. It also creates RSS files in daily, weekly and monthly format. Using the weekly RSS feed, we are also able to automatically post events for the current week on the main web page.

Personal Broadcasting: Commuting Thoughts

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WATCH this video

Here's my thoughts recorded on the new Nokia 7610 loaned to me by Christian Lindholm (THANKS!). It's a 6MB video in 3GP format - you'll need the latest version of Quicktime to view it. [Russell Beattie Notebook]

Russell Beattie posts from a new Nokia 7610. A Quicktime video of Russell driving to work and discussing phone cameras and moblogging. This new cameraphone from Nokia looks pretty nice. The video quality is really pretty amazing.

Math/Science Education

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AssortedStuff: It's The School's Fault Again

While this report sounds like another industry lobbying group trying to scare Congress into giving their companies lots of money, they do make one good point. We don't do a good job of math and science instruction in this country. Part of the blame for that goes to society in general which gives lots of lip service to learning those subjects but then has an adult population which is largely (and often proudly) ignorant of even the most basic math and science concepts. How many people actually understand the odds behind the lottery or what the theory of evolution actually says?

Over at Assorted Stuff, Tim Stahmer is discussing the state of math and science education and how it is being linked to the exporting of jobs to other countries.

SXSW Panel

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Had the opportunity to take part in a panel at SXSW with Tom Hoffman, Kaye Trammel and Mike Sloan. The panel went well, but the best part was meeting Mike, Kaye (and her husband Mark, oh and Triumph the Dog too.. long story...) and connecting again with Tom Hoffman. Was a nice weekend in Austin. Will post more about sessions later, but wanted to note how good these folks are to work with. The panel went well. We actually had a few compliments from folks. Austin is a great city... was a nice time. I look forward to working with Tom, Kaye, and Mike again in the future.

SXSW Photography and Power Issues...

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There is a "no photography or videotaping" policy for the sessions. If I had known, I wouldn't have lugged my Canon Digital Rebel with me...

There is also a $90 fine for using any of the power outlets in the halls or in the session rooms. What do they think we're going to do, plug Marshall amps into the power outlets and start playing in the halls?

Pretty blogger unfriendly...

[Joi Ito's Web]

Several folks are talking about the use of the power outlets. I must say I didn't hear anything about it until tonight and only after reading the SXSW Community Blog and Joi Ito's site. Not exactly sure what the problem can be... Am glad I didn't get fined... :-) Concurrently at the Austin Convention Center, The Texas Home and Garden Show is taking place. Wonder if they let them use any water?

I noticed the no photography sign that Ito posted about later in the day. I didn't see it in the morning session when Werbach spoke.

One thing I did see was about 15 folks using flash cameras during the session. Am thinking it may have more to do with speakers getting tired of folks having flash cameras going off in their faces than anything else. But am thinking a sign just telling folks not to use flash photography should be enough.

One sign I did see that made me laugh was the sign indicating that the Smoking Balcony (designated smoking area) was sponsored by National American Spirit Tobacco. Maybe next year the escalator will be sponsored by Otis...

Joe's Back...

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Almost two months without a post although I have been skimming my favorite weblogs via my aggreagator on a daily basis. The new small schools in NYC have just been announced so here's my explanation of where I've been during the past few months. My school proposal was finally approved and we'll be opening our doors in September 2004 with 100 ninth grade students. I'm thrilled, exhausted, and eager to move forward to September. An incredible amount of work has gone into this since last fall but we've really just crossed the starting line. Our first task is to sprint... [Brooklyn BloggEd]

Congratulations Joe...

SXSW Geekout...

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SXSW /geekoutThe folks at SXSW have a page that highlights all the "cool" things they have done this year to make the conference more accessable and frankly just fun.

Calendar Apps...
For example, if you use calendar applications such as iCal or Mozilla Calendar, you can create personalized calendars of chosen events right from the SXSW website. Each event page has a link to add selected events to your personalized calendar.

Live Audio Streams from SXSW 2004
SXSW will be streaming a live audio feed from interviews being conducted on the exhibit floor. These will also be archived too. During the evenings of the Music Festival, SXSW will be providing live audio streams from approximately 10 music venues.

iTunes Shared Playlists over FREE Wi-Fi
SXSW is sharing their playlist of over 600 songs by SXSW Music Festival Showcasing Artists to WiFi users running iTunes at selected Austin-area wireless hotspots.

Also of note is that the ID badges have RFID chips...

SXSW...

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SXSW /interactive/panelsAm in Austin for SXSX (South by Southwest) Today's panels look very good. Last night I had dinner with Mike Sloan, the organizer of the panel that I'll be taking part in on Sunday.

Am now in a session being conducted by Mike Werbach, SXSW /interactive/panels

WiFi is just the tip of the iceberg. We're in the midst of a fundamental transformation of wireless communication, which has the potential to foster massive innovation, revitalize the technology industry, and dramatically lower barriers to connectivity everywhere. This presentation will provide an overview of the technological, business, and policy implications of this revolution, which challenges basic assumptions about wireless technology, interference, and regulation.

Will be nice to spend some time thinking about technology and how people can use it to communicate and share their work... more later...

Rumblings from the Lincoln School

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Tom points to a post by a teacher at Lincoln School in Providence. She talks of an inter-connected school/district web site that utilizes RSS and such to make Small Pieces, Loosely Joined...

I imagine a network of school websites, or portals, which are independently maintained but are interconnected using RSS feeds. Imagine a school district with a district site, and individual school sites. Info. from the district site RSS feeds to school sites, and vice versa. Top to bottom, bottom to top. Parents with PDA's or pocket pc's or laptops or desktops can get feeds from their school and stay up to date on happenings and news. (Is there an RSS aggregator available for PDA's, cell phones, or pocket PC's? Could be a cool new project to work on. The idea is exciting. [by way ofTuttle SVC]

One of the nice pieces of of Moveable Type is the ability to use plug-ins such as MTOtherBlog. MTOtherBlog allows me to pull content from several independently produced web sites on to the Lewis Elementary web page. For example, items from our music teacher, Tony Jamesbarrry are nested in the left sidebar of the Lewis site. Our weekly parent newsletter is listed on the right sidebar. Also the main page features a photo gallery. All three are independent weblogs, but via the Moveable Type plug-in architecture, I am able to have them all appear "loosely coupled" on the main school web page.

Post From an AlphaSmart Dana

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dana.jpg I'm making this post from an Alphasmart Dana. It is a small Palm OS powered device with a keyboard and grayscale screen. This particular model has wireless capabilities so I'm giving it a try as a blogging device.

The browser that comes with it leaves quite a bit to be desired. The form factor, rechargeable battery and relative durability make it an intriguing device for use in the school environment. Like I mentioned the browser that comes with is really not very good. Also the device is running an older processor, so it a bit slow. I am going to take a look around and download a few other Palm OS browsers and see how they work.

Carriers should be context providers

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Joi Ito has learned a lesson from his $3500 GPRS bill:

"I think that as broadband becomes a standard part of households, more and more people will fill up their iPods and mobile devices with all the content they need from their flat-fee low-cost pipe. Most content isn't THAT time sensitive. I don't see any reason to have to download content on-the-go over expensive gprs when devices can talk wifi or bluetooth and have enough storage to allow you to carry content around."

[by way ofMobitopia]

Frank Koehntopp Notes:

Operators have tried to get people to buy the idea that if only they have UMTS, their mobiles will be able to be used for huge amounts of data: music, video and pictures. That is just not true, at least with the current economics. I can see that in my own behaviour: before I leave the house to go somewhere where I can't access the net for a while (like a business trip), I'm making sure I got all my gadgets 'synced', i.e. I have the content that I need while I'm away with me.

I've been thinking about this and recently have begun to use Audio Hijack to pull off audio content and save it to my iPod. Things like segments of Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and specific radio shows. With Audio Hijack I can program it to record and save content for syncing with my iPod.

I'm also using Bluetooth on my Powerbook and my Nokia 3650 to connect my phone to the web via bluetooth and my laptop connection. Using the Opera browser, I save content on my phone, but do not go through AT&T's network to get the content. I save articles and such for later viewing on my phone. Comes in handy standing in line at the store or waiting around in a doctor's office.

Don't Leave Your Learning Objects on the Floor

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teachnology : news

I'm sorry but I just have to say this. I cringe every time I use the term "learning object." There, I feel better now.

Dan Mitchell and Will Richardson are talking about Learning Objects. As I read their posts I noticed that my son was actually using some real, tangible Learning Objects... As I looked around the living room floor, I also noticed that they were "distributed." Now we need an aggregator to help collect them. As for notification, the best method is to walk across the carpet barefoot. This method seems to be the best I've found when looking for distributed "learning objects" of this type.

Edit CSS Mozilla/Firefox Plug-in

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Russell Beattie NotebookRussell Beattie points to a very nice Mozilla/Firefox extension...

It allows you to edit your web page's CSS in the left sidebar and watch the change in realtime in the browser pane.

I installed this on Firefox and it works very well. Just call it from the Sidebar submenu and the CSS of the page that is currrently in the browser window shows up in a pane to the left. Start to edit the CSS and see the changes instantly. This is great for experimenting on the fly.

VoIP: Clay Shirky

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Shirky: VoIP - Plan A vs Plan B

Plan B, however, is resistant to this strategy, because while it creates the same value as a phone call, it does so without any of the mechanics that regulation attaches to. No dialing, no phone numbers, no phones even, and, most ominously for the incumbents, no charge to the end user. Vonage may be competition, but they don't undermine the idea of charging the user the way Skype or Yahoo Instant Messenger do.

An interesting piece by Clay Shirky. As I read this, I kept thinking of the voice conversation that Tom Hoffman and I had recently using iChat and how well that worked. Could hear him clear as day. Also makes me think about my school and how all of our classroom lack telphone service. Some type of hybrid system that interfaces the building phone network with the our data network would go a long way to getting phones in our classrooms.

Build Your Own Supercomputer

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Hey, Gang, Let’s Make Our Own Supercomputer

Some class science projects get out of hand.

That is certainly the case with Patrick Miller's graduate course in do-it-yourself supercomputing at the University of San Francisco. On April 3, his students plan to assemble the first "flash mob supercomputer" in the school gym.

While brainstorming about how to build a home-brew computer powerful enough to be added to a list of the world's 500 fastest computers, Mr. Miller and his students, along with Gregory D. Benson, an associate professor of computer science, came up with the idea of an electronic barn-raising. They decided to build on the concept of flash mobs, the sudden Internet-organized gatherings with no particular purpose that became an unlikely fad last summer.

I like the fact that after they make their try to join the list of the top 500 supercomputers, the computer will be reorganized to serve as the host of a giant multiplayer video game tournament.

Professors Blogging at Stanford

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The Stanford Daily Online Edition

Increasingly more Stanford professors are using "Weblogging", more popularly known as "blogging", in their classrooms. Traditionally used for online social networking — people write diary entries and others reply — blogging is now being used so that students can post messages and participate in discussions.

Ann Davis points to this article and I find it timely. Yesterday I started my Technology Across the Curriculum class at Pacific Univeristy. It is a 2 credit class for students working on their teaching certificate. As I did last term, I am using Moveable Type for a class weblog. The syllabus, assignments and such are posted there, along with other posts that might be of interest to the students. Next session students will begin to use a MT weblog to post assignments and respond to readings. Am going to attempt to teach them about Trackback.... We spent a good part of yesterday's session learning some of the finer points of weblog use. I'll post more on this later...